Athena and Zoe walked around the mall, looking at various stores. "Why do we hang around here so much?" Zoe asked, feeling a bit bored.
Athena shrugged. "Food court is good. Movie theater is here...they have a Supermart," she said. "And a club is too loud to actually talk about anything."
"Talk about what though? I just want things to be...not weird," Zoe complained.
Athena looked up, and spotted Mikey and Simon sitting on a bench and talking, and grabbed Zoe's arm to turn her in that direction. "So, he wasn't complaining about wearing a dress...he just hates my taste?" she remarked to Athena.
Athena shrugged. "I think he looks great..."
"He does...just surprised, that's all," Zoe said. "I wonder what the others are going to say when they see him."
"Both of them," Athena said.
"Well, at least they'll be so focused on the two of them that no one will care what the two of us are up to," Zoe said.
Elsewhere, as they approached the nearest park to Lydia's home, Lydia began to get a bit more excitable. And the novelty of a dog walking on two legs had worn off for all of them, even Rebecca. She had other things to observe.
As they entered the park, Lydia moved to run forward, but felt a sharp tugging at her back. Reluctantly she slowed down again until they made their way to a large open field. She felt Buster's paw on her back, and heard the sound of her leash being unclipped. Free, she began to ran around the field, happy to be out for the first time in what seemed like an eternity.
Buster watched her, standing near Abby, Ethan, and Rebecca. Rebecca continued to be intrigued. "She seems happy," Abby said.
"And...you don't think there's anything wrong with what she's doing?"
"You mean...running around? She has dog parts...probably has a lot of energy," Abby said.
"That's a very sensible and mature thought," Rebecca said. "Especially since you are in a similar situation."
"I keep telling Ethan he needs to stop whining about this and deal with it," Abby said.
"So, you don't care if this ever gets fixed?"
"What? Of course I do...but I'm dealing with it. And I might have to deal with it forever."
She spotted Ethan on his phone, pretty much ignoring the conversation until Lydia ran up to him excitedly. "Come have fun with me," she told him.
